Turnovers hurt Madison-Grant once again in loss to Alexandria

The Argylls dropped their 15th game of the season on Saturday, as lackadaisical ball control, combined with a rough fourth quarter offensively, doomed Madison-Grant in a 64-52 loss to Alexandria-Monroe.

Alexandria’s defense set the tone in the opening two quarters, stifling the Argylls’ offense and forcing a plethora of giveaways.

“We just bullied around in the first half,” Trout said after the game. “They were physical defensively, and we just didn’t match that physicality at all in the first half, so we had a ton of turnovers because of that.

A 20-11 surge in the third quarter, thanks in large part to Howell, brought the Argylls back into the game, but a defensive adjustment by the Tigers once again shut down the Argylls’ offense. In the final quarter, the Tigers outscored the Argylls 16-5.

“In the fourth quarter, they went to a diamond-and-one on Howell, because he was really hot in the third quarter,” Trout said. “After that, we didn’t have anybody step up offensively and hit a bucket. We knew they would go to that defense at some point – we had worked on it for a couple of days – and we didn’t execute what we worked on in practice in the game. They took Howell out of the game in the fourth quarter, and we just didn’t have anybody else step up. Ultimately, that was the difference in the game.”

Heading into Tuesday’s game with Smith Academy, Trout already knows what needs to be done in order to come away with a victory.

“The biggest thing is that we have got to cut down on our turnovers,” Trout said. “We had 24 again tonight, and that’s too many possessions given up. We have to be smarter, and we have to take care of the basketball better. We cannot afford to give up that many possessions.”